Liam Watson post match

[tonyhey]

Just listened to Liam’s post match with and WOW, I’ve never known him to so animated and angry. The thing is, he is absolutely bang on with everything he said. The National League board is a disgrace, everyone on it should hang their head in shame, and resign forthwith. This whole fiasco of clubs taking out loans to cover loss of income has got to be a non starter. Liam rightly says, that many clubs are trading insolvently, and it is actually illegal to trade when insolvent, and even more illegal to take out loans to cover losses. That aside, the health and well-being of everyone involved with clubs should be paramount, and with the Country in lockdown, I cannot see how part time, semi professional footballers can in any way be deemed as essential workers. I for one, hope that Liam was right when he said that the season ended yesterday, and if the buffoons on the National League board decide to sanction clubs with demotion, then so be it, although I cannot see any way in which they could demote half the teams in the League.

[Redrobe fan]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

[Unibond Awakes]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

Spot on you only have to remember when our board took the high ground in 1979 and declined a place in the Alliance Pl to see what happens .... demotion will be an absolute disaster

[Ralphy Rylance]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

How could they promote teams en mass from a league that has been suspended for months and unlikely to finish?
Rewarding clubs for not finishing a season in order to punish other clubs for not finishing a season seems a bit hypocritical and would be a legal minefield.
How many clubs in the NPL have NL standard grounds?

[Rabbit]

The league have announced free testing will be available from the 15th of this month for all 66 clubs.

Free testing is available to everyone nationwide BUT we are still not supposed to travel out of area or unless it’s essential. The issue or whether we should be ‘ elite’ sport or not( and Really?...come on.. part time footballers?), the main point is the bloody Virus can be transmitted around the country by people being in close contact ! Putting hundreds of young people on buses and shunting them round the country twice a week is damned risky and I’m afraid having a test doesn’t give anyone immunity .
Possibly the league feel under financial pressure due to sponsorship deals etc. If so , broadcast that and put pressure on sponsors such as BT to continue supporting the league during a global pandemic but don’t shove the responsibility down onto the small businesses that most clubs are.
And on playing tonight.....I’m sure we will have made a significant loss after paying Torquay’s share for expenses and travel costs and our own expenses etc. You might argue it was worth doing as to get through to the next round would bring it greater reward although I’ve no idea if that was an issue for the clubs.
The FA could have cancelled presumably but also chose not I assume despite the high levels of infection on the doorstep of the club. Incredible .

Read my posts we are in agreement.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Not everything has to be conflict.
I was making my observations on the fact of the league announcing free testing .
I’m not so sure that I agree the teams’ made it about testing’ . My feeling is that at Southport anyway , there always been that concern from the announcement of re starting playing with the virus prevalent,before the grants were mentioned .
Whatever , the National league should have had Health and Safety as their first priority

[Liamisdoingagreatjob]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

Spot on you only have to remember when our board took the high ground in 1979 and declined a place in the Alliance Pl to see what happens .... demotion will be an absolute disaster

But speaking as someone who has lost close relatives to covid we would be morally right. That is more important in my book.

[Redrobe fan]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

How could they promote teams en mass from a league that has been suspended for months and unlikely to finish?
Rewarding clubs for not finishing a season in order to punish other clubs for not finishing a season seems a bit hypocritical and would be a legal minefield.
How many clubs in the NPL have NL standard grounds?

It wouldnt be promotion. They could simply be invited.
They wouldn’t be rewarding them; just inviting them to fill gaps.
Enough would have acceptable grounds. The NL makes the ground grading rules. It could suspend or amend its rules or admit clubs subject to later upgrades. It could do whatever it takes.

I doubt that it would worry about seeming hypocritical.

Expulsion could be subject to judicial review and appeal to the FA. Does the club have resources for that? Anyway, the clubs that make a stand need to be very careful and do everything properly and act reasonably and be able to demonstrate and articulate that they have done so. Scary times.
Now that testing arrangements have been made by the NL, the clubs’ case is weaker.
I think SSE was right to question whether the club would survive if it had to drop down one or more leagues. I think it would, but a lot of support would be lost.
Hopefully the ballot will be completed very soon and good sense will prevail.

[pault]

By my reckoning seven clubs refused to play yesterday: Bradford PA, Farsley, Curzon Ashton, Kettering, Guiseley, AFC Telford and Spennymoor. i can't see the NL expelling them all.

[YTT]

Free testing is available to everyone nationwide BUT we are still not supposed to travel out of area or unless it’s essential. The issue or whether we should be ‘ elite’ sport or not( and Really?...come on.. part time footballers?), the main point is the bloody Virus can be transmitted around the country by people being in close contact ! Putting hundreds of young people on buses and shunting them round the country twice a week is damned risky and I’m afraid having a test doesn’t give anyone immunity .
Possibly the league feel under financial pressure due to sponsorship deals etc. If so , broadcast that and put pressure on sponsors such as BT to continue supporting the league during a global pandemic but don’t shove the responsibility down onto the small businesses that most clubs are.
And on playing tonight.....I’m sure we will have made a significant loss after paying Torquay’s share for expenses and travel costs and our own expenses etc. You might argue it was worth doing as to get through to the next round would bring it greater reward although I’ve no idea if that was an issue for the clubs.
The FA could have cancelled presumably but also chose not I assume despite the high levels of infection on the doorstep of the club. Incredible .

Read my posts we are in agreement.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Not everything has to be conflict.
I was making my observations on the fact of the league announcing free testing .
I’m not so sure that I agree the teams’ made it about testing’ . My feeling is that at Southport anyway , there always been that concern from the announcement of re starting playing with the virus prevalent,before the grants were mentioned .
Whatever , the National league should have had Health and Safety as their first priority

Suppose principal should apply to the entire game and with protocols it’s been deemed safe to continue. Granted part time players and therefore by default NLN & South shouldn’t have been defined as Elite.

Looking at current voting in public domain it looks like National will continue. NLN null and Void and South continue.

I think the club have handled the pandemic really well. Ahead on protocols for safe return of supporters and even Down to the streaming service (which had its challenges) but was addressed and is as good as most if not better.

I think it’s only in recent weeks we’ve become a little bit of a contradiction. My point was we’ve made the stand on the grounds of health and safety and therefore we should not have played yesterday. Even more so if we’d already made the decision not to take the field in the league on Tuesday.

Testing aside we also made the decision to play a friendly at home in PR9 on Wednesday and bring a Accy team across to play us in preparation for Saturdays game. Again not the most sensible decision (not Newell injury related either) for a host of CoVid related reasons based on the H&S stance adopted. The club understandably tried to keep that quiet so assume on reflection they also think it wasn’t the smartest decision?

Liam’s post match interview will grab attention as he’s saying what lots are thinking but equally with that it puts the club under the spotlight.

Let’s hope this week a decision is made and common sense prevails. But this is football so who knows.

[pault]

Don't wish to be picky YTT, but isn't the Pure Stadium in PR8 ?

[YTT]

Don't wish to be picky YTT, but isn't the Pure Stadium in PR8 ?

Picky but true

[Liamisdoingagreatjob]

By my reckoning seven clubs refused to play yesterday: Bradford PA, Farsley, Curzon Ashton, Kettering, Guiseley, AFC Telford and Spennymoor. i can't see the NL expelling them all.

Plus us if we refuse to play Tuesday, and clubs in the south division. Greatest power is as a group of clubs. We must stand beside these seven. The whole thing is an unbelievable and farcical situation even in these difficult times and as in any business (which like it or not is what the national league is) it's those running it who have to take responsibility.

[badger]

By my reckoning seven clubs refused to play yesterday: Bradford PA, Farsley, Curzon Ashton, Kettering, Guiseley, AFC Telford and Spennymoor. i can't see the NL expelling them all.

Plus us if we refuse to play Tuesday, and clubs in the south division. Greatest power is as a group of clubs. We must stand beside these seven. The whole thing is an unbelievable and farcical situation even in these difficult times and as in any business (which like it or not is what the national league is) it's those running it who have to take responsibility.

You could not make It up.

[Ralphy Rylance]

They could. Teams in the league below would jump at the chance to move up.
The situation needs some very careful handling.

How could they promote teams en mass from a league that has been suspended for months and unlikely to finish?
Rewarding clubs for not finishing a season in order to punish other clubs for not finishing a season seems a bit hypocritical and would be a legal minefield.
How many clubs in the NPL have NL standard grounds?

It wouldnt be promotion. They could simply be invited.
They wouldn’t be rewarding them; just inviting them to fill gaps.
Enough would have acceptable grounds. The NL makes the ground grading rules. It could suspend or amend its rules or admit clubs subject to later upgrades. It could do whatever it takes.

I doubt that it would worry about seeming hypocritical.

Expulsion could be subject to judicial review and appeal to the FA. Does the club have resources for that? Anyway, the clubs that make a stand need to be very careful and do everything properly and act reasonably and be able to demonstrate and articulate that they have done so. Scary times.
Now that testing arrangements have been made by the NL, the clubs’ case is weaker.
I think SSE was right to question whether the club would survive if it had to drop down one or more leagues. I think it would, but a lot of support would be lost.
Hopefully the ballot will be completed very soon and good sense will prevail.

Whether you call it promotion, invitation or something else it doesn't alter the fact that clubs removed from the league for not finishing the season would be replaced by clubs who hadn't finished their season.

As far as legal proceedings are concerned surely affected clubs would pool resources.

That said I really don't think it will come to mass expulsions but it's perhaps a good time to have a lawyer running the club.

[Redrobe fan]

Is the NL going to wait the 28 days or publish the result when sufficient votes have been returned?

[yellowfever]

I'm sure I heard on Radio Lancs last night that it needed 22 clubs to null and void the season? I'm presuming that would be over the 3 leagues and not 2?
That could be a problem in itself based purely on numbers.
I hope it doesn't come down to a legal process, but with every passing day -that seems to get closer.

I emphasized early on that clubs had to stay together on this one and that's still the case.I don't get yesterday really, but I think it is the case that both clubs "eventually" agreeing to testing that persuaded SFC reluctantly to fulfil the fixture-although not on a regular basis for league games.This-plus the FA slant on proceedings..

I can't believe that clubs will be punished en masse- but they could be in this current climate with rules as they stand within the National league...

The predicament of all the clubs involved needs highlighting at the highest level possible and that needs all supporters of all these clubs to get texting, phoning, e-mailing to whoever will listen to make our case for being treated unjustly.

A sad situation, when clearly clubs would never have started the season if they'd known funding was to stop and fans were not returning.

[Nolio]

Liam has hit the nail squarely on the head in my personal opinion. I am fed up to the back teeth of ‘zombie football’, risking people’s health and well-being, not to mention the financial consequences. I see Jim Parmenter (Dover Chairman) has resigned from the National League Board and is saying very similar things. This needs resolving - and quickly.

[becbee]

http://www.doverathletic.com/news/chair ... ague-board

Very interesting article.

[superbike999]

http://www.doverathletic.com/news/chair ... ague-board

Very interesting article.

It's almost as though Liam had written the script for him

[portexileinbath]

Er some people seem to be missing the main reason for cancelling the season, which is to stop the spread of the virus and in particular the more infectious variants of it. We are talking about lives here.
The funding issue, although important as a matter principal, is of little consequence in the overall scheme of things.
Liam deserves a massive ammount of credit for his interview. Absolutely spot on. What it needs now is all the other teams to grow some balls & brains and do the right thing.